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Science 30 October 1970:
Vol. 170. no. 3957, pp. 508 - 512
DOI: 10.1126/science.170.3957.508
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Articles

The Cultural Basis for Our Environmental Crisis

Judeo-Christian tradition is only one of many cultural factors contributing to the environmental crisis

Lewis W. Moncrief 1

1 Department of recreation resources administration of the School of Forest Resources, department of sociology and anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607

The forces of democracy, technology, urbanization, increasing individual wealth, and an aggressive attitude toward nature seem to be directly related to the environmental crisis now being confronted in the Western world. The Judeo-Christian tradition has probably influenced the character of each of these forces. However, to isolate religious tradition as a cultural component and to contend that it is the "historical root of our ecological crisis" is a bold affirmation for which there is little historical or scientific support.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
An Appraisal of the Critique of Anthropocentrism and Three Lesser Known Themes in Lynn White's "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis".
B. A. Minteer and R. E. Manning (2005)
Organization Environment 18, 163-176
   Abstract »    PDF »
Environmental theology: trends and prospects in Christian thought.
R. W. Doughty (1981)
Progress in Human Geography 5, 234-248
   PDF »
Legacy of the Environmental Movement.
S. L. Albrecht (1976)
Environment and Behavior 8, 147-168
   Abstract »
Sensuous-Intellectual Complementarity in Science.
T. R. Blackburn (1971)
Science 172, 1003-1007
   PDF »


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